Heralds Digest

   “ By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: And by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. When a man's ways please the LORD, He maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him .” Proverbs 16 : 6 - 7 KJV One of the major challenges in life is working on a pleased plea in our relationship with significant people and partners. For example, king Jehoshaphat of Judah struggled with this dilemma in his relationship with king Ahab of Israel. Even when it was glaring that king Ahab was abusing Jehoshaphat’s kind gesture, king Jehoshaphat went into an unholy alliance in the battle with Syria at the risk of his life, but for the mercy of God. Likewise, too many people are crippled by the fear of man at the expense of the fear of the Lord. Whereas, what the Lord requires is simple confession and forsaken of all unrighteousness to access His forgiveness and mercy. Invariably, the focus of the pleased plea is the pursuit of mercy from God with truth; and not the profiling of mandrakes f...

  “ All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, But the Lord weighs the spirits. Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established.” Proverbs 16 : 2 - 3 NKJV “ All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes” implies that ideas do not necessarily suggest purpose. In the actual fact, the human heads are full of purposeless plans, and guided with selfishness, arrogance, and all forms of unrighteousness. When king Ahab responded to king Jehoshaphat’s suggestion to consult the prophet of the Lord about his plan with  “ There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord; but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil ( I Kings 22 : 8 )”, the danger of purposeless plan was exposed. King Ahab eventually died in the battle for his arrogant failure to heed the lone caution against the purposeless plan. Generally, while purposeless plans are focussed on the accumulation of laurels, breaking of new ...

  “ Commit your works to the Lord, And your thoughts will be established .” Proverbs 16 : 3 NKJV While it is evident that the difference between true thoughts and twisted thoughts is the thoughts that pass the establishment check, waiting to access the actual end of thoughts in life is always a challenge. Could this be the reason why Moses prayed “ So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom ( Psalms 90 : 12 )?”  Little wonder why there is a reasonable reservation in every wide celebration of birthdays, wedding anniversaries, project accomplishments, graduation ceremonies, ministerial accomplishments, etc. For example, this week marks our 20 years wedding anniversary with tremendous milestones, including the bringing up of three amazing and God-fearing kids, thriving testimonies in the journey of faith in our workplaces, ministries, family relationships, etc, in spite of the challenges of life. Notwithstanding, we have learned how to consistently di...

“When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.” ‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16:7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ http://bible.com/114/pro.16.7.nkjv The price for peace is generally accepted to be of less importance, compared to the privileges of peace. Peace treaty often come at the expense of significant compromises to acceptable standards, including the paying of ransoms to terrorists, the granting of amnesty to criminals, the adoption of multiple standards, the use deception or carrots and stick approach, etc. These self-centered motivations or peace approaches have proven to only guarantee temporary cessation of hostility. As long as the desire of all parties in the peace accord is the pleasing of certain self interest, lasting peace is always no where in view. That is, the idea of displeasing God (by telling lies to douse tension, immoral gratification towards promotion or human recommendation, etc) in order to please man does not always work. Whereas, lasting peace pleading ...